Studying the roots of plants during the growing process provides a wealth of information regarding plant physiology for the purposes of plant breeding, such as for example corn, or other crops, as well as detecting the presence of parasites or other harmful external sources. Studying the physiology of plant growth root structure provides an indication of, for example, absorption of nutrients or standability during growth. Plant roots can also be analyzed to determine growth factors of the plant, which may be based on root stricture, or the plant's to ability to absorb nitrogen from the soil. Parasites or other insects may also be present in the soil where the sample is grown and these parasites, or their effects, show up in the roots of growing plants. To determine the effectiveness of parasite control, sample plants may be extracted and their roots analyzed for damage due to such parasites.
Prior to performing any such analysis, the plant must be extracted from the soil and soil clinging to the roots must be removed. In the past, removing soil from corn and other plant roots was accomplished manually by an individual who used a single nozzle hose to spray one root at a time. In addition to being inefficient, this manual approach was not ergonomic as it required the individual to perform many repetitive and arduous tasks. Various root cleaning machines (shakers, barrel types, etc.) have been published, but are not effective, nor provide high enough throughput to clean a sufficient number of roots to support certain research efforts during a window of optimum sampling. Therefore, there is a need in the research field to provide a method and apparatus able to provide high throughput cleaning of corn or other plant roots in order to facilitate research.
The roots of corn or other plants vary in size and strength, and care must be taken to effectively remove all of the soil (including rocks and debris) from stronger plant roots while preserving the integrity of finer roots. Various types of analyses may focus on either the stronger or finer roots and so it is desirable to preserve the integrity of and remove soil from all of the roots in order to provide the most effective sample for testing. Therefore, there is identified a need in the research field to provide a cleaning mechanism which may effectively remove the soil from the root structure of corn or other plants while preserving the integrity of finer roots.
In previous methods of cleaning plant roots, a single operator would utilize a hand held hose providing water flow at a high pressure. Such work is dangerous, requiring operators to utilize various safety equipment to protect themselves from harm. Therefore, there is a need in the root cleaning process to provide a method and apparatus requiring minimal human intervention so as to minimize safety risks.
In previous cleaning operations, the amount of soil that could be removed varied from one operator to another or from one plant to another, and also depended on the operator's experience, the moisture content of the soil surrounding the roots, and/or the consistency of the soil. Some roots may have been cleaned so that all of the soil was removed from the plant, while at other times an operator may have found it impossible to remove all of the soil from the root while preserving the fine roots. Therefore, there is identified a need for a method and apparatus which provides consistent cleaning of soil from plant roots.
A further problem with previous systems for cleaning roots involves the loss of a significant amount of soil from the field in which the plants are initially grown. Soil in a particular field may be engineered to have a certain nutrient value or other desired qualities and the loss of a significant amount of soil may compromise a testing environment. Transporting and depositing of soil can be an expensive endeavor, and while soil may also be replaced in the field, this too represents an expense which may be avoided. Therefore, a need has been identified in the industry for providing a method and apparatus which is capable of removing soil from a plant root and returning the soil to the field.
In extracting and cleaning a plant in order to minimize soil loss from the field, water supply may be at a premium. For example, if root cleaning is performed in the field, water may need to be available in the field or transported to the field. Additionally, even in a separate environment, it may be preferable to conserve water if possible. Such a conservation system may limit the expense for utilities. Therefore, a need has been identified for a system of recycling or conserving water used to clean soil from a plant root system.